Balance tor detecting counterfeit coins



H. MARANVILLE.

Coin Tester.

. No. 16,390. Patented Jan: 13, 1857.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

H. MARANVILLE, OF CLINTON, OHIO.

BALANCE FOR DETECTING COIINTERFEIT COINS.

Specification of Letters Patent No.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, H. MARANVILLE, of Clinton, in the county of Summit and State of Ohio, have invented a new and Improved Implement or Device for Detecting Counterfeit Coins; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in which Figure l is a face view of my improvement. Fig. 2 is a side view of ditto.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the two figures.

My invention consists in the employment or use of a graduated disk and slide, connected together and hung upon centers, so as to form a scale beam. The disk has guides attached to its face and the several parts are so arranged that the cam may be weighed and also measured both as regards thickness and diameter, and the implement may be made quite portable so that it may be carried in the pocket with as little inconvenience as an ordinary pocketknife or comb.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct my invention, I will proceed to describe it.

A represents a disk or circular plate, to one side of which a projecting plate B is attached. The sides or edges of the plate B are bent downward and underneath the other portion to form guides to receive a sliding plate C which is allowed to work freely in said guides underneath the disk A and plate B. The disk A and plate B may be formed of sheet brass or other metal and both out out of one piece. The disk A need not much exceed in diameter a silver dollar. The slide 0 is also formed of a piece of sheet metal. On the plate B at its junction with the disk A, a bar D is secured transversely, and knife edged journals (a) are formed one on each side of said bar. These journals (a) have their bearings in ears or lugs (Z2) turned up at the end of a bar underneath the plate B. On the face of the disk A there are secured two ledges (0) These ledges are placed in oblique positions near the edge of the disk and form guides against which the edge of the coin to be tested is placed. The disk A has its face graduated as shown in Fig. 1-

16,390, dated January 13, 1857.

curved lines being made indicating the diameter of gold and silver coins of different denominations. The different scales are divided by lines (cl).

The slide O is divided longitudinally into four parts, each part being graduated, one part for silver and another for gold, a part for foreign silver and the other part for foreign gold. The disk and slide are balanced like a scale beam in the bearings in the lugs (b) and the weight of the coin on the disk A is counterbalanced by adjusting the slide O.

The implement is used as follows: Take, for instance, a silver dime, and place it upon the disk, A, the edge of the dime being placed against the ledges (0). Then adjust the slide C, so that the line marked 10 in the part marked cts, on the slide will be even with the outer edge of the plate B. If the coin be genuine its edge will be precisely over the line marked 10 in the disk, and the disk and slide will be evenly balanced. The thickness of the coin is indicated by figures on the ledges (0), the ledges being of taper or inclined form. It will be seen that by the above implement the coins are weighed and measured, and therefore counterfeit coin may be readily detected. If a spurious coin is of the same weight as a genuine one it must be larger, because any known metal heavier than gold is more valuable and consequently would not be used in combination with other metals for counterfeiting. If a spurious coin is equal in size to a genuine one it will, of course, be of less weight.

The implement is exceedingly simple in construction and may be made quite portable, not exceeding 3 or 4 inches in length.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is The graduated disk A and slide C connected as shown and hung in the ears or lugs (b), the disk having ledges or guides (0) (0) attached to its face and the whole arranged as herein shown and described, for the purpose set forth.

H. MARANVILLE.

WVitnesses:

J. F. GILBERT, I. I. WRIGHT. 

